Unsettling and seductive: Whistler’s Peacock Room reimagined, Filthy Lucre | V&A 

Charles Lang Freer (an American industrialist and art collector) purchased the original Peacock Room in 1904 and had it installed in his Detroit mansion. After his death in 1919, the Peacock Room was permanently installed in the Freer Galley of Art at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. I highly recommend visiting, it's incredible.

Thanks for opening up the comment section. Love that peacock room. I remember the map-maker’s shop from Hellboy II that was all blue and gold and how much I wanted to decorate a room on that theme. This one’s pretty close.

a beautiful way of telling history, honouring an artwork, and creating a standalone wonder

It is very annoying when videos use loud music at the same time as narration. I can’t clearly hear the person speak. At the very least please turn the volume down so we that the listener can hear the speaker.

Not knowing the backstory (I had heard only of Whistler's Mother) this was a baffling experience at the museum. Now having read up on it, it is an entrancing concept and extraordinary in execution. Bravo.

The first thing I take away is the fragility in the most complex and exquisite things. Accepting that something may be beautiful and still break is part of everything. I always see sadness expressed around perfection being damaged, but that's part of it. Contradiction is what we are. When there is no contradiction within what we do, that's sometimes a different tragedy.

I really enjoyed this exhibition. Very mysterious and creative. I felt like being in a film set.

I feel like this room will show up in shows like Mononoke and XXXHolic, mystery thriller show with supernatural undertone. My weebs of culture would understand. The room, along with its history, really bring to life the feeling of an evil spirit based off of art and greed haunting it.

Been in the Peacock Room at the Freer Gallery many times, as I am not far from Washington. It is one of the must see places I visit in my art excursions along the Mall. This room never fails to place me into a state of ecstasy. Okay...sometimes I take a few hits off my pipe, before entering.

What a stunning installation. So inspiring.

I did not know I wanted to see this so much. Just fantastic.

And THAT is the real meaning of "installation"

Great film, thanks. I was looking forward to seeing this before the lockdown - oh well!

I have been in that room and I can say I felt sick being in it I could not stay in it for long.

As an artist myself I hate clients that after you have poured all your hard work don't f*ing pay you, think it was easy because you are "talented" or pay you with "exposure". there should be a special place in hell for those clients.

Astonishing.

PS: This too is amazing and interesting

Whistler also destroyed an important artifact -the leather panels that once belonged to Catherine of Aragon. In the museum, you can see a bit of the original under the shelving...what Whistler didn't desecrate with his madness is truly lovely...compared to this...

I love this version a lot more than the original. The original is beautiful in it's strangeness too, don't get me wrong. What's funny to me about the original is that the artist was supposed to embellish the room that was supposed to be about the porcelain displayed there... And then makes it so the room itself totally steals the attention away from the porcelain :) But this version is so much more vibrant and interesting. The main appeal for me is that the structures of the room, even the lights and ceiling, have meticulously been recreated and then broken. But yeah - the colors are brighter, the peacocks tearing each other's guts out are illustrated amazingly, the broken shelves give it more character.. ..even the porcelain in the destroyed room is more vibrant. The combination this and the original makes it more interesting, sure... But I would have preferred this version either way. And had I not known of the existence of the original... This would have still stunned me. Because of the sheer amount of work to make it (it shows), only to then break it all and put it on display.

The most famous is the Peacock dress .

🎉

You have to explore the psychological relationship that underpins the original commission. No one expects this psychological relationship to go unexplored. It certainly wasn’t explored at the time as clearly, the commissioner of the art work did not intend to pay for it. Thus one could say that the physiological relationship was one of fraud. I’m surprised though that the tailor was not allowed to finish his jacket.

Arrt *dun dun dun* Come on. The music choice sucks. I except better from the met

No.

I find it very pretentious to think this bizarre interpretation of the original would awaken any awe feelings understanding it as a response to something beautiful and up to a certain extent sublime. This interpretation certainly surprises ... it is grotesque..it is narcissistic..it is ugly and beautiful at the same time... It is like when it is cold outside and you put your hand in decomposing waste.. those contradictory feelings are there... I guess it does not credit the interiors as such but the ugliness of both men's behavior transferred to the interiors..it is a pity really as the beauty of the creation is one thing and the twisted form of human behavior can reach is another...

Room

Sad, really.

Really interesting concept but the execution not so much.

Creepy! An exercise in cultural elitism. Those amused by what they see will be rare birds indeed.

That re-imagining is a definite no no! :-/

Tossers.

Some of the comments on here are just another example of blinkered, arrogant, intolerance, the inability to appreciate anything alien to one's own limited tastes.

Pretentious music

This is by far one of the most impactful instillations I have ever seen. Just....WOW. Stunned. Love struck. So, so wooed.